Hirosaki’s Neputa Matsuri

Because I decided on my trip just over a month before the summer festivals, I ended up staying at Hirosaki (弘前) town, even though my main purpose was to attend the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri (青森ねぶた祭り).  All the Aomori hotel rooms on Rakuten Travel were fully booked by the time I checked!

Well in any case, since we were in Hirosaki, I thought I might as well visit the local Neputa matsuri (ねぷた祭り), which started on Aug 1, the day we arrived there.

While it was of a much smaller scale than its neighbouring town’s event, I was very happy to have been a part of the Neputa because it was 1) a good chance to test the exposure settings for my F6 (important as film is so expensive!) and 2) to see how a float-based matsuri like the Nebuta flows.

Local youths running on the street with their float. As part of their manoeuvres, some of the carriers would raise up their floats, run towards the audience, and stop just in the nick of time, a step or two in front of the seated audience. This I believe to show their strength in manoeuvring their heavy loads. (Nikon F6 with AFS 24/1.4, Fujifilm Natura 1600 film)

The Neputa is believed to be first held in the early 18th century, meaning it has a history of close to 300 years. It was suspended in 1937 because of the Pacific War (or World War II), and resumed in 1946, a year after the war ended.

It is now held from Aug 1 to 7 every year, and draws an estimated 1.6 million visitors, making it the second largest summer festival in Aomori prefecture. Lasting about one and a half to two hours, it features about 80 floats each night.

A mother and daughter marking out their seating spot for the family in the day time. Shot on Aug 4. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

Parade participants transporting their floats to their starting point in the afternoon. Shot on Aug 4. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

One of the bigger floats coming down the street. One special feature of Neputa floats is that they are shaped like fans. One side depicts a scene from Japanese/Chinese mythology, while the reverse side would have a picture of a famous beauty. And to show off the drawing, the big fans can revolve 360 degrees! The people on top are there to make sure the float does not hit the traffic lights. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

Following every decorative float, there would be a drum car. This is among the more impressive ones on Aug 1, with three women sitting on the drums and hitting them in tandem with the men below. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

Members of the Self-Defence Force – dressed up as swordsmen – doing a short dance routine with their fans for the audience. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

Most of the people carrying and pushing the floats were men. (Nikon F6 with AFS 24/1.4, Fujifilm Natura 1600 film)

Heart warming to see many children taking part in the parade too! I hope they will continue to uphold the tradition for many years to come. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

Little boy, this is not a race! No need to pull so hard! (Nikon F6 with AFS 24/1.4, Fujifilm Natura 1600 film)

Parade participants getting the crowd to cheer along with them. The matsuri’s official cheer goes “ya…yado…!” (Nikon F6 with AFS 24/1.4, Fujifilm Natura 1600)

A cart at the very end signalling the end of the day’s parade. The crowd disperses as soon as they see this. (Nikon F6 with AFS 24/1.4, Fujifilm Natura 1600 film)

Representatives from JR East having supper at Sukiya after the end of the parade. (Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm)

I was actually at a loss as to how to shoot the matsuri initially – the lighting conditions were challenging, with the pavements generally very dark relative to the floats, which were lit from within. Further, the drums were brighter compared to the floats, which made it difficult to balance between the floats and the drums.

Essentially, I think it’s impossible to shoot a night-time matsuri like this without a flash.

So it was probably lucky that I’d brought along my Ricoh GXR to test out the lighting. The GXR  shots you see here were taken with the SB900 speedlight fired remotely through the optical trigger method, because the flash cannot be fired while mounted on the GXR. A little troublesome as I have to hold the flash in my left hand, leaving only my right hand to manoeuvre the GXR.

Once I was fairly confident of the settings, I switched to using the F6. The flash was fired on the hotshoe, naturally.

Overall, it was quite a fun evening. My main complaint was actually with the food – most of the stuff we bought, like sausages, were already cold! Dissatisfied, I insisted that we look for a place for a proper hot meal after the matsuri, which was how we ended up at Sukiya, where the final shot in this series was taken.

Next post…more on Hirosaki, one of my favourite towns in Japan!